It's All Good Between Ireland, Dez

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Consider the hatchet between Cowboys’ receiver Dez Bryant and Dolphins’ general manager Jeff Ireland--if there ever really was one--buried.

About an hour before kickoff Thursday night, Bryant jogged over to Ireland, who was speaking to Cowboys’ executive vice president Stephen Jones on the sidelines, and shook his hand. According to reports, the two spoke for less than a minute, but the conversation was jovial, ending with Ireland slapping Bryant on the chest.

“It went well,” Bryant said. “We shook each others’ hand, hoped the best for each other and that was it.”

This isn't really surprising. Ireland had already apologized for asking if Bryant's mother had ever been a prostitute in a predraft meeting, and Bryant said that he held no ill will toward the Miami GM over what he believes to be largely a misunderstanding.

Bryant missed each of the Cowboys’ five preseason games with a high ankle sprain suffered in camp on July 30. He returned to practice on Tuesday, but was held out of Thursday’s preseason finale as a precautionary measure--meaning that his NFL debut will come under the lights of primetime next Sunday night, in Washington.

For Bryant, who hasn’t played in a game since week 3 of the college season in 2009, as a member of the Oklahoma State Cowboys, next Sunday couldn’t come soon enough.

“It (being on the sidelines) just gave me a lot of energy, I was just ready to go [Thursday],” Bryant said. “It helped me a lot for next week. I’m ready to go to practice... I’m just ready to go.”